Saw this on yahoo and thought it would be relevant here. This is a case where Art imitates life, don't you think? Interesting article....

'Wars' Raises Questions on U.S. Policy
Sunday May 15 12:37 PM ET

Without Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit 9/11" at the Cannes Film Festival this time, it was left to George Lucas and "Star Wars" to pique European ire over the state of world relations and the United States' role in it.

Lucas' themes of democracy on the skids and a ruler preaching war to preserve the peace predate "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith" by almost 30 years. Yet viewers Sunday and Lucas himself noted similarities between the final chapter of his sci-fi saga and our own troubled times.

Cannes audiences made blunt comparisons between "Revenge of the Sith" the story of Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side and the rise of an emperor through warmongering to President Bush's war on terrorism and the invasion of Iraq.

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Two lines from the movie especially resonated:

"This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause," bemoans Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) as the galactic Senate cheers dictator-in-waiting Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) while he announces a crusade against the Jedi.

"If you're not with me, then you're my enemy," Hayden Christensen's Anakin soon to become villain Darth Vader tells former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). The line echoes Bush's international ultimatum after the Sept. 11 attacks, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

"That quote is almost a perfect citation of Bush," said Liam Engle, a 23-year-old French-American aspiring filmmaker. "Plus, you've got a politician trying to increase his power to wage a phony war."

Though the plot was written years ago, "the anti-Bush diatribe is clearly there," Engle said.

The film opens Wednesday in parts of Europe and Thursday in the United States and many other countries. At the Cannes premiere Sunday night, actors in white stormtrooper costumes paraded up and down the red carpet as guests strolled in, while an orchestra played the "Star Wars" theme.

Lucas said he patterned his story after historical transformations from freedom to fascism, never figuring when he started his prequel trilogy in the late 1990s that current events might parallel his space fantasy.

"As you go through history, I didn't think it was going to get quite this close. So it's just one of those recurring things," Lucas said at a Cannes news conference. "I hope this doesn't come true in our country.

"Maybe the film will waken people to the situation," Lucas joked.

That comment echoes Moore's rhetoric at Cannes last year, when his anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" won the festival's top honor.

Unlike Moore, whose Cannes visit came off like an anybody-but-Bush campaign stop, Lucas never mentioned the president by name but was eager to speak his mind on U.S. policy in Iraq, careful again to note that he created the story long before the Bush-led occupation there.

"When I wrote it, Iraq didn't exist," Lucas said, laughing.

"We were just funding Saddam Hussein and giving him weapons of mass destruction. We didn't think of him as an enemy at that time. We were going after Iran and using him as our surrogate, just as we were doing in Vietnam. ... The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable."

The prequel trilogy is based on a back-story outline Lucas created in the mid-1970s for the original three "Star Wars" movies, so the themes percolated out of the Vietnam War and the Nixon-Watergate era, he said.

Lucas began researching how democracies can turn into dictatorships with full consent of the electorate.

In ancient Rome, "why did the senate after killing Caesar turn around and give the government to his nephew?" Lucas said. "Why did France after they got rid of the king and that whole system turn around and give it to Napoleon? It's the same thing with Germany and Hitler.

"You sort of see these recurring themes where a democracy turns itself into a dictatorship, and it always seems to happen kind of in the same way, with the same kinds of issues, and threats from the outside, needing more control. A democratic body, a senate, not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling, there's corruption."

Lucas began researching how democracies can turn into dictatorships with full consent of the electorate.

In ancient Rome, "why did the senate after killing Caesar turn around and give the government to his nephew?" Lucas said. "Why did France after they got rid of the king and that whole system turn around and give it to Napoleon? It's the same thing with Germany and Hitler.

"You sort of see these recurring themes where a democracy turns itself into a dictatorship, and it always seems to happen kind of in the same way, with the same kinds of issues, and threats from the outside, needing more control. A democratic body, a senate, not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling, there's corruption."

More left wing sour grapes.

Bush is limited to 2 terms. The people are free to elect someone else -- from any party -- after his term is over. He isn't a dictator, and won't be in office in three more years.

Most of the people in the USA don't see such a grim and dismal outlook... only those who hate Bush, and lost the election, do.

Remember that even those who lost will have a chance to vote again in three years. That's hardly allowed in a "dictatorship."

Yes on paper the U.S. is still a democracy, but when you have the administration invoking fear over the people with by the "war on terror", then they can make the majority of people "choose" to keep them in power. Sure Bush won't remain there forever, but one of his like-minded and hand-picked will most likely pick up the reins.

Yes on paper the U.S. is still a democracy, but when you have the administration invoking fear over the people with by the "war on terror", then they can make the majority of people "choose" to keep them in power. Sure Bush won't remain there forever, but one of his like-minded and hand-picked will most likely pick up the reins.

Sorry why should Americans take advice from those who don't wish the US well?

Next president of the US will be John McCain. Not exactly Bush's friend but he will continue most of Bush has been doing.

Where do you come up with this stuff Joo? Once again you're using broad strokes and lumping me with others. I have never said anything that implies I don't wish the U.S. well. Stop with unfounded accusations, this is the second time you've done this to me.

well I don't know so If I what I said was innaccurate then I apologize.

Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote:

Anyway whatever obviously the US public was not afraid enough before 9-11. If the US had started the war on terror in the early 90's then 9-11 wouldn't have happened.

As yes ... capitalizing on the politics of fear. Very effective, no ???

As numerous pundits have noted, the "WAR" on "TERROR" was merely the next logical step in AmeriKa's long standing aggressive state foreign policy. 9/11 was a godsend for hawkish groups like the neo-con warmongers PNAC.

This one was on www.canoe.ca, similiar as the first but a bit more in depth.

Lucas takes jab at Bush Empire

By BRUCE KIRKLAND -- Toronto Sun

American director George Lucas arrives for the world premiere of his film "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith" at the 58th international Cannes film festival, southern France, Sunday, May 15, 2005. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)
CANNES, France -- Star Wars is a wakeup call to Americans about the erosion of democratic freedoms under George W. Bush, filmmaker George Lucas said yesterday.

Lucas, responding to a question from the Sun at a Cannes Film Festival press conference, said he first wrote the framework of Star Wars in 1971 when reacting to then U.S. President Richard Nixon and the on-going events of the Vietnam War. But the story still has relevance today, he said, and is part of a pattern he has noticed in his readings of history.

"I didn't think it was going to get quite this close," he said of the parallels between the Nixon era and the current Bush presidency, which has been sacrificing freedoms in the interests of national security. "It is just one of those re-occurring things. I hope this doesn't come true in our country. Maybe the film will awaken people to the situation of how dangerous it is ... The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we are doing now in Iraq are unbelievable."

In the latest film, the Palpatine character takes over as ruler of the universe with the co-operation of the other politicians.

"Because this is the back story (of the Star Wars saga), one of the main features of the back story was to tell how the Republic became the Empire," Lucas said. "At the time I did that, it was during the Vietnam War and the Nixon era. The issue was: How does a democracy turn itself over to a dictator? Not how does a dictator take over but how does a democracy and Senate give it away?"

Lucas cited the Roman Empire in the wake of Caesar's death, France after the Revolution and Germany with the rise of Hitler as historical examples of countries giving themselves over to dictators. "They all seem to happen in the same way with the same issues: Threats from the outside; they need more control; and a democratic body not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling."

Lucas earned applause for his comments and then joined his actors Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman (who was shaven bald for a new movie role), Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmid and Anthony Daniels in a free-wheeling discussion of Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge Of The Sith, which made its world premiere last night out-of-competition. This was before they all scuttled off to the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship, where the Cannes brass presented Lucas with an awkwardly named honour called "the trophy of the festival." Some press conference highlights:

As yes ... capitalizing on the politics of fear. Very effective, no ???

Not so effective Bush almost lost. Not that he really has.

Quote:

As numerous pundits have noted, the "WAR" on "TERROR" was merely the next logical step in AmeriKa's long standing aggressive state foreign policy. 9/11 was a godsend for hawkish groups like the neo-con warmongers PNAC.

Like how you call it America the guy who uses the real Klansman at the American freepress.

The PNAC says that the US should use its economic and political power to put the US in the best possible position just like any other nation.